The exposure of King Power's suspected massive corruption at Cobra Swamp Airport is a very good thing for Thailand. Their greed has gobbled up possibly twice as much space as their as-yet-unsigned contract specified, causing great inconvenience to travellers and staff. Kavi's cartoon (February 1) depicts it well: a super-store with parking for aeroplanes.

 But what about the contract itself? Based on reports in newspapers at the time, King Power did not get their contract through a competitive bidding process. I hope the investigation covers how King Power got the deal in the first place.

 Also, we mustn't forget it takes two to tango, so which AOT Board members and executives, as well as Royal Thai Air Force generals and politicians, got a piece of the King Power action upfront and ongoing? I hope the investigation covers them, too.

 It is critically important to expose and prosecute all who abetted this massive theft from the Thai people, plus all the other unconscionable corruption at Cobra Swamp Airport.

 What is most galling is that these rapacious thieves don't know the meaning of "enough". They have already stolen so much over their careers that they are filthy rich. Why do they want more? Aren't they embarrassed for their parents and children? Have they no shame?

Their value is measured by what they give to society, not by what they take. How can they look in the mirror without feeling nausea? The real key to wealth is for all in society to prosper. The rising water raises all boats, so enable all people to survive and prosper and you shall prosper too. Actually, it's Keynesian and Henry Ford economics. These crooks are so boorish and uneducated that they can't grasp this nearly century-old concept.

Lancelot

Bangkok

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Excuses for football walk-off ludicrous and unacceptable

Re: "Thailand could get the boot", News, February 2. It is ludicrous for a team of players, or even for that matter, a single player, to walk out in protest over a referee's decision. It is a mockery of sportsmanship in football.

Whether there are good reasons to disagree or to protest against the referee's decision or not, the protest should be lodged formally to competition officials after the game. Excuses like the one offered by the Thai team's manager, "We held the protest because if we had let play continue at that time, there was a high possibility the situation would escalate. We wanted to take a pause in order to make our players calm down", are unacceptable. Why not stop a match and walk off for 10 minutes for some rest and refreshments because your players are tired of chasing the ball.

Ron

Bangkok

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Exports would have surged with or without Thaksin

Re "Foreign media need a history lesson before praising Thaksin", Opinion, February 2.

I absolutely agree with Thanong Khanthong's views in the above article. I cannot wait to see how these magazines will respond to this objective analysis of what happened during the period in question. I just want to add to this excellent observation he makes: "Along the way, Thaksin could get away with all of his mistakes, ironically, because of the exceptional performance by exporters."

Thaksin's economic policies that Thanong cited in the article did not contribute to anything that helped the exports of cars, electronics, agricultural products and many other items. One factor that surely helped the exports was the value of the baht. Without his policies, Thailand would have enjoyed this impressive improvement of exports anyway. Many thanks to all exporters.

Time magazine says in its interview with former prime minister that Thaksin did more than others for the poor. I would like to quote from the book "The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth" by professor Benjamin M Friedman: "By now only 10 per cent of the Thai economy is still agricultural; 40 per cent is industrialised, and half is in the service sector. Thailand's overall economic growth since 1975, net of both inflation and population growth, has averaged 4.9 per cent per annum." This tells us that the poor did not have to wait until Thaksin came into office.

Prichar

Bangkok

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Critiques of retrogressive foreign business laws justified

It is quite understandable that Thanong Khanthong is upset that foreign publications are now suggesting that, in comparison to Thailand's interim government, the previous government of Thaksin Shinawatra was maybe not so bad after all. However, it is not surprising that they see it this way.

Military coups derail the process of political evolution and each successful coup makes it more likely that future governments will have to face armed insurrections. This is a grave future cost for society to bear and in compensation it has a right to expect exceptional performance from a government installed in this way.

Foreign journalists, who don't come from societies where coups are an accepted mode of political change, feel this more acutely than Thais. In addition, it is their job to highlight changes in the regulation of the external economy that may directly affect their readers. Policy in this area is justifiably criticised as spectacularly inept and retrogressive.

Thanong is naive in believing that the new Foreign Business Act is not protectionist simply because it does not protect any new industries. Through making preferential voting rights for foreigners illegal, it denies them the right to control their own investments and protect intellectual property and reputation. This is a very significant and retrogressive change to the law.

As for the capital controls - these have been justly criticised by the foreign press. The Asian Wall Street Journal is absolutely correct in saying that capital controls put up a barrier to hide bad policy.

Personally I also believe that comparing the interim government with the Thaksin regime is inappropriate. It would be much more relevant to compare it to the can-do government of Anand Panyarachun, which made a virtue out of necessity by pushing through an impressive programme of economic reforms that, without a parliament, could not be thwarted by the fragmented coalition parliamentary politics that were the norm at that time.

Among other things the Anand government disbanded the industry licensing system, which effectively kept virtually all competition, Thai and foreign, out of certain industries. Finally and importantly the Anand government amended the wording of the Foreign Business Act to counter a ruling by the Council of State that a subsidiary of Asea Brown Boveri was a foreign company controlled through nominees and preferential voting rights. The Anand government believed that allowing foreign investors to control their investments was crucial in facilitating foreign direct investment. This amended definition was carried over into the 1999 Foreign Business Act.

Nick Fogarty

Bangkok

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Greenpeace urges govt to reject nuclear-energy option

Re: "Govt considering a nuclear plant", News, February 1.

Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand's statement is both irresponsible and dangerous. He must realise that nuclear energy is not the answer to Thailand's energy security; it will in fact put our population at a huge risk. Nuclear power is not only extremely expensive, it is unsafe and is downright dangerous in the long term. None of the problems related with nuclear power have been resolved, such as disposal of radioactive waste and all the associated risks. Safety and nukes is a contradiction of terms; Greenpeace would like to remind the minister and the current government of the catastrophic Chernobyl event in 1986. Do they really want to expose the Thai people to this kind of danger?

In contrast to nuclear and coal, Thailand has a real energy choice in renewable energy and energy efficiency that can be delivered quickly and safely. Thailand should take a leading role in developing renewable energy in the region as it is blessed with vast renewable energy sources that await to be explored.

Greenpeace believes that by maximising energy efficiency and harnessing renewable energy, Thailand can meet its energy needs sufficiently, safely and economically - all while helping the world avert climate change.

Tara Buakamsri

Climate and Energy Campaigner

Greenpeace Southeast Asia

Bangkok

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Upgrade airports outside Bangkok for easier travel

Re: "Using 2 airports 'a huge hassle'", News, February 1.

Does Bangkok need to be the hub for nearly all plane connections to other Thai destinations? Already, with the imminent splitting of domestic flights between the old and new Bangkok airports - one result will be that Singapore's airport will become a more comprehensive hub connecting Thai cities than any one of Thailand's airports. But rather than be overly concerned with being the "mother of all hubs" - how about increasing the carrying capacity of destination airports. Most visitors to Thailand are not fixated with visiting Bangkok - instead, they're aiming for other Thai destinations. By lengthening and strengthening regional airport runways such as those in Phuket and Chiang Mai, visitors could get flown directly to their destinations without having to go through Bangkok. Currently, getting to another part of Thailand from overseas (or returning home) often entails an overnight stay in Bangkok, which invariably requires a long commute to and from the inner city. For many, that overnight stay is an unwanted expenditure of money and time.

Looking at the larger picture, what ever happened to the proposals concerning satellite cities for Bangkok? Government offices, corporate headquarters, universities and such could be relocated to outlying regions, thereby easing the congestion, pollution, flood danger and other problems that beset the megalopolis.

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai

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